Eastwood Sports Center asbestos removal investigated

Syracuse, NY -- The demolition of the Eastwood Sports Center has sparked a federal investigation into the asbestos removal practices of Buffalo-based developer Carl Paladino.

Criminal investigators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Feb. 9 searched the downtown Buffalo offices of Paladino’s Ellicott Development Co. and took away a number of documents to determine whether there have been problems with asbestos removal at the company’s other projects.

In 1997, Paladino’s company purchased the bowling alley from the estate of Daniel Biasone, inventor of basketball’s 24-second shot clock. The company also has built or has plans to build six Rite Aid drug stores in the city of Syracuse.

Demolition of the half-toppled bowling alley was stopped in late November after the state Labor Department’s Asbestos Control Bureau inspected the site and found asbestos. Paladino voluntarily halted demolition once the asbestos was found, said Betsy McCormick, spokeswoman for the department’s asbestos bureau.

Before a building can be demolished, it must be checked for asbestos, a suspected cancer-causing substance that is also linked to the lung disease asbestosis.

Asbestos becomes dangerous when its fibers become airborne. Asbestos was once commonly used in ceiling and floor tiles, insulation and roof shingles.

Only certified companies and workers are allowed to remove asbestos. Anyone removing asbestos from a commercial or industrial building must submit a removal plan to the state and to the EPA. The plan must include details of how the asbestos will be removed, how workers and the public will be protected from exposure to the asbestos, and where the asbestos will be disposed of.

William Paladino, project manager for Ellicott Development Co. and the son of Carl Paladino, said in December that the company hired to check the building for asbestos missed some of the material. Some was hidden and not visible until demolition began, he said.